The Life and Times of Victoria W. Klein

Victoria Catherine Winthrope Klein
1 Gracie Square
NY, NY
12-1-56

To my Darling Granddaughter Sara,

The time has come when it is imperative that I tell you some things about your family before it is too late. The man you know as your grandfather Abram is not really your grandfather. I know that it may come as a surprise to you, but before I tell you about this, you need to know about my family and background.
The Winthrope family originally came from France during the reign of William the Conqueror. Because our ancestor Henri, Compte de Bertheume fought victoriously in the Battle of Hastings, William gave him the title of Duke of Coventry, which carried to my father, William Albert the thirty first Duke of Coventry. He also gave the land that later generations used to build Coventary Hall.
Coventary Hall was a 40 room mansion with two libraries (one for English works, and one for foreign language works), its own children’s wing with a kitchen and dining room and lots of space for the three children to play blind man’s bluff and hide and go seek. Along with all this there were also many rooms for various guests that would stop by to visit the Coventry family. Phoebe and I had rooms right next to each other so after the nanny tucked us in we would sneak out of our rooms to visit each other. We would then spend hours talking about things such as our parents and what sort of person we wanted our husband to be. Phoebe wanted a “tall dark and handsome” type of person while I am partial to blonds similar to Prince Phillip.
My sister Phoebe and I led very sheltered lives. While we were growing up we hardly saw our parents. Mostly it was a quick visit prior to them leaving for some society gathering. The person responsible for the day to day care of us was our Governess Mary. It would be to her that we would run to if we got hurt, or had a question. She was the one that fed us and loved us while we were growing up. It was not until we were what you would call teenagers that our parents took a more active role in our lives. This meant actually eating with our parents instead of Mary.
There were only three occasions that Phoebe and I were allowed to go out of the house. The first was to go to church with Mary. If we were lucky every so often father and mother (Charlotte Augusta, the Viscount of Northrup’s daughter) would also come with us. The second was to go riding (Phoebe and I, as well as our younger brother Henry were enquire enthusiasts) or to go to Hester Phillip’s house. Hester was born in between Phoebe and myself, so we all became fast friends.
When Phoebe and were younger we longed to be as free as Henry was. While Phoebe and I were stuck at home being educated by a strict schoolmarm, Henry was off at school, at Eton or Oxford. When Phoebe and I would have our heart to hearts late into the night Henry was one of our favorite things to talk about. One of our favorite discussions was how Henry was the apple of both father and mother’s eye. We felt that they loved him because he was the boy that they had always wanted so that they could carry on the Winthrope family name. as the Duke of Coventry. Our mother had a son before we were born that had died after only a few days. Sometimes we would tease Henry by saying that if the baby boy had lived Henry would not have been born. However Phoebe and I realized that we also would not have been born either.
Because I was born during Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1888 and am named after the Queen, I had a keen interest in history. I devoured books by people such as Shakespeare, Tacitus, and my favorite author Thomas Babington Macaulay. I would spend many enjoyable hours reading Macbeth, Henry V, De Germania, or The History of England by the fire in the library or in the orchard not far from our house.
In 1905 when I was 17 my parents decided it was time for me to be presented to society so that I could find a husband. My parents rented a house off Harley Street in London for the season. I needed a well born lady to sponsor me, so my Aunt Sara (my mother’s sister the Duchess of Stratford) sponsored me. I was introduced to His Majesty King Edward VII and wife Queen Alexandra, whom I found to be very pleasant people.
I met many eligible bachelors during that season that I was in London. The bachelor that took my fancy was Lord Phillip David Shayne of Wincastle who was the second son of the Viscount of Rothley. Unfortunately for me my father did not like him because he was only the second son and so would not achieve the same status that a first born would. My parents chose for me instead Duc Rene Andre de Beauxchamps, the eldest son of a Duke from France. We were married in a lavish wedding in London in the summer of 1906, the same time that Phoebe married as well. I will always regret that I broke poor David’s heart when I had to tell him that I would marry Rene, whom I did not really love. He said that he understood, but I could tell that he was crushed.
Rene and I honeymooned in Paris and it was a real thrill to see the Eiffel Tower. After we got back from Paris I found out that I was pregnant. I was not best pleased because I was still getting over having to say goodbye to David. I did not have a very comfortable pregnancy since I was sick for much of the time. It did not help when my father died suddenly at the age of 71. He had been devastated when Henry decided to renounce his inheritance because he had fallen in love with a wealthy German divorcee (hussy if you ask me). My father was so upset that he did not pay attention when out riding his horse and he fell off, causing severe internal bleeding and he died several hours later. When Henri Rene was born on April 19, 1907 I immediately fell in love with him. In a way it made up for my loveless marriage with my husband who was out hunting or traveling to Paris much of the time.
The years seemed to go by quickly after Henri was born. In 1911 we went to Paris to visit Henri’s grandparents for Christmas. I was walking near the Arc de Triomphe and I just happened to see David! He was in Paris on business and when our eyes met it was like we were 17 again. During our time in Paris we renewed our affair, which we managed to keep secret by meeting in places that I knew Rene or his parents would not visit.
Rene and I spent a month in Paris, and during that time I met with David many times, so it was not really a surprise to me when I found out that I was to have his baby. Once David came back to England we decided on our next step. I wanted to keep the baby and so did David. I did not want to get divorced however, because if I tried to divorce Rene he would have kept little Henri and would probably have been given the baby I was carrying as well.
David came up with a plan. He had heard about a new wonder ship RMS Titanic that was about to sail and said that he would get the three of us tickets on it to sail to New York City. At first I was worried about trying to get away from Rene, but then I discovered that Rene had to go to Paris for business during that time, so David told me just to tell Rene that I would be visiting my mother in the country for a week while he was away and taking Henri with me.
Henri and I left for our trip on April 1, 1912. David had already purchased the tickets for the Titanic and made reservations for us in Southampton for two nights before we sailed. Because my parent’s country house was in between London and Southampton, Henri and I stopped for a break to visit my mother before traveling on. I wanted to see how she was doing. Not only had Henry deserted our family, but poor Phoebe and her baby had died in childbirth right around the time that Edward VII died in 1910. I did not tell my mother that I had decided to leave Rene, or about my pregnancy. She only knew that I was taking Henri to New York City to visit his Aunt who had married a Strauss. She gave me some old books and some old pieces of jewelry that my father had given her during their marriage. She said that she did not need them anymore because her new husband Lord Spencer Stanhope wanted her to get rid of “that old rubbish.” The jewelry came in handy after later events.
Henri and I got to Southampton on April 8th, two days before the Titanic departed. By this time I had told Henri our plan and he was so excited he just had to go see the great ship, so we went for a walk to the harbor where we were both awed by the beauty and size of her. We spent the next day getting ready for the great trip itself.
On April 10th David, Henri and I boarded the great ship. Because of propriety David had one first class cabin and Henri and I had a second cabin on the B deck. There were several stewards attached to the floor and the one that was assigned to my cabin was a nice Jewish man from Liverpool named Abram Isaac Klein. As the days passed and we got to know each other we became friends, and there was also a spark between us, but I was still with David, so nothing could happen.
I spent my days being busy with all the activities on board. I spent time with Henri taking walks around the decks and exploring the ship. David and I spent a lot of time together planning our future with our baby, and we also got to meet Captain Smith, and Bruce Ismay, the President of the White Star Line. We made the acquaintance of John Jacob Astor and his wife Madeleine with whom I became quite fond of. David, Henri and I all enjoyed eating at the Café Parisien which was located on our floor. Madeleine and I spent some time in the first class reading room together while Henri spent time with other first class children in the Verandah Café. On Friday April 12 though, mother sent me a telegram saying that Rene had died in Paris after being struck by a streetcar.
Because of the sea air Henri, David and I went to bed quite early most nights on the Titanic. Then the worst happened. Early Sunday night, April 14, 1912, I was awakened by Abram saying that Titanic had hit an iceberg and to get to the Promenade Deck immediately. Since Abram had notified everyone else on our deck he went with me as he was needed to man a lifeboat. While I was getting myself and Henri ready I asked Abram what David had said when he heard that the Titanic had been hit and he said that David had responded that he did not think that it was serious and that he was going back to bed and not to bother him anymore. At the time this did not seem to surprising because I had heard him say such things before. Over time I have sometimes wondered what would have happened had he heeded the warnings.
Once Abram, Henri and I got to the Promenade Deck it was pandemonium. Few wanted to go out because of the extreme cold. I was at first one of them, but Abram managed to get Henri and I into the life boat that he was in charge of. We were one of the first to leave the sinking ship and I still remember looking up into the sky and seeing the white rockets in the air up above and realizing that many of the people on board were going to die. We were in the water for what seemed like days and I slowly watched the beautiful ship go down many people died because no one that was on any of the boats wanted to rescue them lest they overturn the boat.
Henri was very good, he did complain that he was cold and bored but I and Abram (when he was not busy) tried to distract him. It was not until about five o’clock in the morning when Abram woke me from a light doze to tell me that he saw a rescue ship. He and others started rowing towards it, but it was not until eight o’clock that we reached the Carpathia which was to take us to New York.
Abram and I spent much time together on the Carpathia. At first we grieved for the people that we lost, but then our grief turned to something more and we fell in love. Once we got to New York we knew that we wanted to get married. I did not feel that I was ready though, but after several weeks Abram won me over, so we went to City Hall and got married. Over the next months we got acclimated to life in the United States, then under President Woodrow Wilson. Using the money that I received as Rene’s widow we bought an apartment on Gracie Square, and furnished it for your mother Anna’s birth. She was born on September 1, 1912 a little over four months after the Titanic sank. We then added to the family with your uncle Aaron Charles who was born not quite a year after your mother was born. I have had an event filled life and hope you forgive me for keeping this secret from you for so long.
Your Loving Grandmother,
Victoria